


Silent

by ClockworkDinosaur (orphan_account)



Category: Steam Powered Giraffe
Genre: Depression, Drama, Gen, Literature, One Shot, Short, fan fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-21
Updated: 2015-11-21
Packaged: 2018-05-02 15:04:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5252687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ClockworkDinosaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rabbit's memories sometimes become too much to handle on her own. Vent writing of a sort.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Silent

The Manor was rarely this quiet. Hatchworth wasn’t chasing animals down corridors, The Spine wasn’t wandering the halls with stacks of books, papers, or technology, and Rabbit wasn’t running around singing. The Manor was hushed.

The Spine watched as his sister refused to move for the second day in a row. She stared blankly at the wall in front of her, her mismatched LED photo-receptors dull. She got this way sometimes, when over a hundred years of memories became a knot in her head that seemed to block out the light. All The Spine could do was make sure she drank some water every so often, and made sure she would power down at night. Otherwise, her boiler would go dry as she stared at one point on the wall.

Hatchworth lined up trinkets on the table net to the couch where she sat. A small wooden duck, a metal doll, and a music box sat watched the still automaton. He wandered in and out of the room, but The Spine sat nearby as often as he could.

Usually during a bad time like this, Rabbit would be silent for days. This time however, she spoke; her voice was quiet and creaking.

“Sometimes, Spine, I really wish I could just erase everything in my memory.” she sighed. “I-I mean, I’ve killed people! In wars! I-I-I’ve cause people to-to-to-to-to-to-” she stopped, her jaw clicking shut to stop the stuttering. The Spine stood up and crossed the room, joining her on the couch. 

The Spine spoke quietly, barely audible over the internal gears and quietly hissing steam sounds that were ever present with the robots.

“So have I, Rabbit. So did Jon, and Upgrade. We’ve fought people, and other robots, over five wars. We almost didn’t make it back. But we did, all of us, didn’t we?” Rabbit turned to look at him. From the doorway, Hatchworth spoke.

“I know what it’s like to feel completely alone with nothing but memories, nothing positive in sight, but you have to remember that good things will happen again.” he said, joining his siblings on the couch. Rabbit looked back and forth between her brothers, then down at her lap, black oil leaking from her eyes.

“I don’-t-t-t deserve you guys.” she whispered.

“Don’t be silly Rabbs, we need each other.” Hatchworth said, nudging her with his shoulder. “You’re stuck with us, you’re our big sis.”

“We’re here for you, Rab.” The Spine said.

Rabbit’s oil-streaked face slowly, slightly twitched into a wobbly smile as her brothers thew their arms around her shoulders. 

After a moment, she gave a weak laugh. “St-st-stop touchin’ me, you losers.” she said, and a moment later, she stood up. She steadied herself with a breathing motion. “I-I think I’ll be okay for a wh-h-h-ile. Th-th-thanks guys.” As she walked out, she said over her shoulder, “I’ve gotta see one of the Walter Techs, because I thi-thi-think oil got inside my eye…” she said, and disappeared out the door.

The brothers were quiet for a moment, then Hatchworth looked at The Spine.

“Think she’ll be okay?” he asked worriedly. 

“I think she’ll be okay for a while. Even when she’s not, we’ll be here for her.” The Spine said. “It’s what siblings do, right?” Hatchworth gave a nod.

The next day, Rabbit left her room, humming as she made her way into a library, passing Hatchworth as he smuggled a cat into the house. As the day went on, The Spine found it more difficult to focus on anything as the house descended into chaos. For once, he didn’t even mind.


End file.
